Account-based marketing (ABM) pioneer Terminus announced Tim Kopp as its new CEO today. We exchanged emails with Tim about what this means for the company, how he sees the state of ABM and its next evolution.
B2BNN: First of all Tim, congratulations! Is this a move focused on expansion or evolution?
TK: The short answer is, it’s both. We see an incredible opportunity in the market and believe that this is the right time to focus on rapidly scaling Terminus, an initiative I’m excited to undertake. As we look to lead the transition from account-based marketing to account-centric business transformation, we’re laser-focused on efficient growth, which will include expanding our product capabilities, our internal team, and our partnerships. Ultimately, our business is evolving and we’re ready to take the next step.
B2BNN: How does this affect the product roadmap?
TK: This transition will simply serve to accelerate our product vision. Our TEAM (Target-Engage-Activate-Measure) framework for putting an account-based approach in place will continue to provide the construct for our product strategy and we’re excited to add new capabilities to our solution.
B2BNN: How do you view the ABM space today – what are the new risks and opportunities in an account centric universe?
TK: I believe that ABM is a market in transition. As the lead- and email-based solutions of the marketing automation boom continue to create issues of volume-versus-value, growth-focused B2B companies are looking to the account-centric approach to deliver better business outcomes. As a result, I believe we’re standing on the precipice of the next marketing revolution, an era in which the account-centric approach will ignite total business transformation — not just marketing.
B2BNN: We’re hearing customer frustrations with overly automated funnels. How is Terminus balancing this?
TK: The concept of highly automated email-centric nurture campaigns is inherently incompatible with an account-based approach, where the dividing line between marketing and sales is less defined and less important. Instead, Terminus focuses on dynamic campaigns that allow marketing and sales to engage accounts through the right channel at the best time based on data — be that a broader reaching program or human outreach.
B2BNN: Given that ABM appears to have saturated the market with astounding speed, what are the growth plans? New verticals? SMEs?
TK: We believe that ABM is B2B — by which we mean that the account-centric approach is not just better marketing, it’s a more efficient way to drive growth. The market for this concept is as big as B2B itself. It’s not a niche approach, it’s not specific to enterprise or SMB businesses, it’s just how great B2B companies should go-to-market.
B2BNN: What has been your biggest learning, moving into the ABM space? The biggest perceived challenge?
TK: The thing I’ve been most surprised to see since moving deeper into ABM is how transformational it is at an executive level. This truly is the second generation of marketing automation, but with the potential to impact organizations at every level, from the C-suite to those tactically executing across all customer-facing teams. As a result, I think the biggest challenge we’ll face is the organizational learning curve required to transition to the account-based approach. To be successful with ABM, companies need significant buy-in across the organization and deep alignment between marketing and sales.
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